Feature of the month
Linux leaps to Super computer

The University of Queensland in Brisbane, Australia, has invested $3.25m in a Linux-based SGI supercomputer system to research earth sciences and earthquake mechanisms.
Also known as Australian Computational Earth Systems Simulator 
(ACcESS), has been funded by the Queensland state government.

It is based around an SGI Altix 3000 supercomputer, powered by Intel Itanium 2 processors. Built on SGI's NUMAflex non uniform memory access scalable architecture, it boasts a hefty 208GB of main memory and also uses the new Silicon Graphics Onyx4 Ultimate Vision graphics system.

The remit of ACcESS is to carry out large simulations and develop methodologies to increase crucial knowledge of earthquakes and help forecast earth movements. Peter Mora, director of the Earth Systems Science Computational Center at the University of Queensland, said:“ We will be able to study the dynamics of fault systems in the earth's crust in a way never before possible, which could lead to scientific underpinning needed to forecast earthquakes. It provides an immense opportunity to achieve scientific breakthroughs and innovations in the earth sciences and related IT areas.” 

(Source : www.vnunet.com)

IT-Quote

“Linux ....Find out what you've been missing while you've been rebooting Windows NT”
-Infoworld

“We all know Linux is great …… it does infinite loops in 5 seconds.” 
- Linus Torvalds

IT-Personality of the Month

In 1991, Linus Torvalds, a 21-year-old student of the Helsinki University created Linux, an operating system. Ten years down the line, Linux is giving Microsoft’s Windows a run for its money. Linux has all the qualities of a Unix-type operating system and the source code for Linux is freely available to everyone. 
Presently Linus lives in California, USA but he is a Finnish by birth and his mother tongue is Swedish. He has two daughters to look after and he loves family life. In a short time Linus has come a long way. Despite his success he hasn’t changed a bit. He still refuses to reap monetary benefits from Linux and feels that the success of his software is reward enough. 
In 2000, Transmeta launched a computer chip-Crusoe, which has challenged the supremacy of market giants like Intel. Once again the man behind the product was Linus. Today, Linus continues working diligently, away from the media glare. We wish the best for his future. 

IT Snippets
Linux With Windows Licensing

Lindows is a software that combines Linux and Windows without violating any trademark or copyright. The concept is to make a cheap OS that runs both Linux and Windows code, but that looks and runs like windows. 

Lindows concept was dreamed up by MP3.com entrepreneur Michael Robertson, and is encountering skepticism.

Lindows 3.0 has a very simple installation procedure and is also one of the fastest installations, it barely takes 5 minutes to install all the packages. Lindows provides all the fancies that are required to attract a Windows user. 

(Source: Digit : August 2003)

Linux Gaming

Unfortunately, the term 'Linux Gaming' has come to symbolize the ultimate oxymoron .Linux has always been considered the preserve of geeks, and geeks don't play games- they program like there's no tomorrow.

However, few companies have tried to break this barrier. Id Software released Linux versions for
all its recent games- The Quake franchise, and Return To Castle Wolfenstein. Another major development is the release of Unreal Tournament 2003, by Epic Games. 

The two most popular arcade games that are included with Red Hat are Chromium and Tux Racer. Chromium is a souped up version of Space Invaders . 
Tux Racer is slightly different in its approach. You basically control the Linux Penguin, and help it skate across an ice floor, looking for fish to eat , while avoiding obstacles.

(Source: Digit: August 2003)

IT Quiz

1. What is meant by OSS ?

2. Why has the great search engine been named Google?

3. How does Linux got its name?

Cross Over Office

Cross Over Office allows one to install one's favourite Windows productivity applications in Linux, without needing a Microsoft Operating System license.

Cross Over includes an easy to use , single click interface , which makes installing a Windows application simple and fast.
Once installed your application will integrate directly with your Gnome or environment .

Just click and run your application, exactly as you would do but with the full freedom of Linux. Cross Over Office is capable of running a range of Windows software, but Code Weavers will support the following applications:

Microsoft office XP, 2000 and 97Microsoft Word - Microsoft Excel, Microsoft PowerPoint, Microsoft Outlook, Microsoft Internet Explorer, Microsoft Access, Adobe Photoshop, Microsoft Vision, Lotus Notes, Quicken

(source : www.codeweawers.com)

IT Humour

THE GREAT WRITER

There was once a young man who, in his youth, professed his desire to become a great writer.

When asked to define “great” he said, “ I want to write stuff that the whole world will read, stuff that people will react to on a truly emotional level, stuff that will make them scream, cry, howl in pain and anger!”

He now works for Microsoft, writing error messages.

IT Quiz Solutions

1. OSS stands for Open Source Software. OSS programs are programs whose licenses give users the freedom to run the program for any purpose. To study and modify the program, and to redistribute copies of either the original or modified program,
   without having to pay royalties to previous developers.
   

2. Google is a play on the word 'googol', which was coined by Milton Sirotta, nephew of
   American mathematician Edward Kasner, to refer to the number represented by 1 followed by 100 zeros. Google's use of the term reflects the company's mission to organize the immense amount of information available on the web and in the world. 
   

3. Since Linux was invented by Linus Trovalds and it is primarily classified as an Unix type of operating system. The combination of Linus and Unix gave birth to this new name Linux. Will now someone find out, from where does the word Unix come from.